Friday, 27 March 2015

A Dinosaur Quilt


This week I am making a dinosaur quilt for Rowan. His mum has commissioned it and he has sent a list of his favourite dinosaurs to be included. I looked them all up to draw the patterns and my knowledge of dino shapes has been very much expanded! The design will also include lots of jungle animals and some woodland ones too. The central panel print is by Michael Miller. This is in the same design run as the fabric in the centre of the big stars. Below you can see my human quilt stand holding up the quilt top in the garden, well actually you can only see his fingers.... 

Dinosaur quilt top by Green Star Quilts
Here are some close up photos of the quilt top. I am waiting for the backing fabric to arrive at the moment.



Dino quilt detail
T Rex meets a camel and dolphins, pterosaur flies over the top of the quilt,

Dinosaur quilt detail
I love the magic of folkart quilts where houses can be the size of horses and anyway who knows what colour dinosaurs really were?

Dinosaur panel by Michael Miller
The surrounding fabric for the central panel is called Jolly Jungle by Makeower....

Woodland animals on Dinosaur quilt
I can't wait to quilt this top, The colours are so bright and cheerful...


Owl and big star
I hope to be able to show you the finished quilt next week if the backing fabric arrives in the post.


That's all I have time for this week, now I have a birthday cake to bake for daughter, bulbs to plant, seedlings to water and so many other things to do too.... all before baby number two arrives and I am required for Granny duty! 

I hope you have a lovely week sewing and designing your quilts,
Kind regards,
Sue

PS. I am linking with Lily's Quilts blog this week as she is hosting a link up party. Click on the button below to see her blog.



Fresh Sewing Day

Friday, 20 March 2015

A low volume king size quilt

Charlotte asked for a king size quilt in soft pale colours and it has taken many weeks to make. I laid it all out on the floor many times, stuck labels on all the bits and lost my way several times with it when the labels fell off! But at last it is finished and on her bed. I hope it will be her happy memory quilt, with her wedding day dress, William's shirt, little daughter Juliet's dress and Bertie's sun hat all there to make a family story.

This is how it started with Post and Rail blocks....


Post and Rail blocks by Green Star Quilts
Then it grew......

Post and Rail blocks by Green Star Quilts
I made the quilt in quarters so it was easier to handle but even so there was A Lot Of Quilt!! Can you see my labels, row 1, row 2, row 3......

More Post and Rail blocks
Finally the four pieces were finished and I quilted them with a grid pattern up to an inch from the centre joining edges. It was a bit of a wrestling match to get it all through the machine! Then I joined the top edges together, cut the wadding to size and ladder stitched it , then the backing fabric edges were folded over and hand stitched down and the quilting completed.Wrapped up in this quilt whilst I was stitching it all was so cosy... The backing fabric is white with a pale yellow stripe.

backing fabric
flower on the back made from Bertie's sun hat

Here it is at last on the bed and I am making these big photos for a really huge quilt!

Post and Rail low volume King size quilt by Green Star Quilts

And just to show that it goes right down to the floor too....

Post and Rail low volume quilt by Green Star Quilts


I must say that if I ever make another quilt this size it would be sensible to have it longarm quilted. I have learnt a lot making such a big quilt, such as realising that my Bernina walking foot wouldn't hold the stitch guide thingy until Husband ( now with a capital letter as he is so handy) modified it by cutting up an old electrical plug and saving me £40!

This  sunny morning we have watched the partial eclispe of the sun with our pinhole camera made from a shoe box. We sat in the garden as it got a bit dark and birds became quiet. It wasn't dark enough to wake the owl up though, just rather grey and strange. We both said we felt rather small as our earth lost it's brightness. As the sun returned we looked with gratitude at the garden and felt glad that signs of spring were all around.

Tete a tete daffodils
The colours in the garden are low volume like Charlotte's quilt but I am so grateful to see them arrive after the winter.

May blossom
I have looked out of the window many times over the morning now and felt so glad for the sunshine today. There is a whisper of change, and lots of hope for the summer to come.....




The next quilt on the list is a dinosaur themed one, there's nothing like a change!

I hope you have a lovely week quilting,
Kind regards,
Sue

PS. Here is one of the finished seaside quilts.... 


Seaside quilt by Green Star Quilts